FreeNomad

I was born abroad and naturalised as a British citizen. I spent my time in the UK mostly being a full time student, doing unpaid volunteering work and also managing my family's business back home. I was never on a payroll in the UK, never claimed benefits and am fortunate enough to come from a financially independent family.

I am now in a bit of a conundrum because just about every bank nowadays (in four countries I have been to) asks for your UK TIN or NINO number when you present a British passport and ask to open an account. Telling them I don't have one isn't acceptable; they usually say it is impossible, end of story.

Is it possible that a naturalised British citizen who has never been on a payroll in the UK would not have a TIN or NINO? Or must I have missed/misplaced/forgotten a document from the Home Office that assigned me one after I got my citizenship?

Thank you for any advice.

christmasoompa

You don't need to be on a payroll to get one - my 16 year old daughter has just been given hers, and she's a full-time student. If you had one, you could potentially be given credits for the time you were a student towards a state pension, so would be well worth it (depending on how long ago it was).

Are you in the UK? https://www.gov.uk/apply-national-insurance-number

FreeNomad

Thank you for your answer.

No, I'm presently abroad and as fond as I am of the UK, I have no plans to return to the UK in the near future.

Do British citizens by birth get it when they are 16 automatically or is it something you have to apply for, like a driver's license?

Pardon my ignorance about the UK pension system (and apparently things in general!), I've never really looked into it. Why would unpaid time as a student count towards your pension, when you contribute no taxes? In any case how would they tie a NINO number I may have had, or would get if I asked for it, to my time as a student?

The only document I can recall with certainty getting after I naturalised was the naturalisation certificate. As far as I can remember, no NINO unless it was maybe printed on the back of the certificate, or came by way of mail separately.

BritInParis

You wouldn’t have received one when you naturalised. You may have been assigned one whilst a student but generally speaking immigrants need to apply for one from the DWP.

You can check here if you were ever given one: https://www.gov.uk/lost-national-insurance-number

christmasoompa

Ah, I don't believe you can apply for a NI number if you're 'just' a citizen, rather than resident in the UK. But the link above will tell you.

It's sent automatically, it's needed for most things tbh.

There are various ways to claim qualifying years even when not paying taxes, such as being on certain benefits, being a full-time parent, etc. Anybody can also pay voluntary contributions which are a tiny amount compared to what you get back, many expats living abroad choose to do that. So contributing to UK taxes isn't a requirement to accrue qualifying years, it will depend on what you did in the UK. If you were working for your family business and being paid for that, wouldn't you have paid UK taxes?

dougal03

Hi, I returned to UK in Feb.of this year after many years abroad,previously had had a business in both UK & Spain but now retired.I had a real struggle to open a Bank account back in UK which obviously I needed, as I was transferring funds to buy a property as my next home.It was not only the Bank but the Solicitor dealing with my purchase who needed proof that the cash I was depositing was not from money laundering.This is standard practice even though it was done through an established British Bank for the conversion into Sterling & the transfer.I had to provide the addresses of ,in my case,3 properties that I had owned & sold which took me back over some 20 years.Once I had given this,& many other details,I was told,to my amusement that the foreign addresses were"too long" to fit onto their equipment & subsequently after I said"Well how are you going to verify my authenticity"I was given a Bank account ! On being told this to the Solicitor,he also gave up it seems as I was able to go ahead with my property purchase.I have found many,in my mind,some rather bizarre details that I have had to provide to get back into my own country & I am British by birth.I am still not sure why Customs needed my last electricity bill before accepting my belongings into the UK which of course was written in Spanish & the amount in euros.Perhaps they are planning to add themselves to a comparison website for utilities.You may be aware that there is an on-going argument concerning the closure of Bank accounts in UK that have been held by British Nationals resident in EU countries prior to Brexit .You have not stated where you are resident at present so this may not concern you.However,I am wondering why,if you do not intend to return to UK,why you would want to open a Bank account in any of the 4 countries.

durham_lad

NINO is a strange thing, only really needed to record your National Insurance contributions towards your State pension. Our son is British by birth and at age 35 moved to England from the USA. He stayed with us for the first 3 months while he got a job and a house etc. He did not have a NINO but was able to open a bank account here, and the bank accepted a letter from us stating that he was living at our address. He applied for a NINO and we had to drive 50 miles to a Job Centre for him to be interviewed and a NINO issued. It all took several weeks by which time he had already started a job. The company who offered the job accepted his British Passport as proof he was allowed to work and took his word that he had applied for a NINO.

FreeNomad

Thank you everyone for your helpful input.

Thanks, I thought so! I certainly didn't remember getting it when I naturalised.


The "Applying for a NINO" says You can apply for a National Insurance number if you live in the UK and have the right to work in the UK.. So I guess I don't meet the first qualification to apply for a new one, assuming I wasn't assigned one that I am otherwise unaware of.

I wasn't paid a salary formally; my parents just met all my financial needs. My parents sent me over young to boarding school, and then later to university and an MBA. The work for them was to basically be the English-speaking POC to customers in the UK and Europe. Working for the family without getting a formal salary might sound a bit like exploitation, but I can assure you it wasn't, and I am not the materialistic sort of person anyway.

Stories like this make me regret closing my British bank accounts which I anticipated would lie dormant for years while I traveled. My parents are in Taiwan; I am in Hong Kong. They are getting on in years and I prefer to be close by nowadays in case of anything, especially now that international travel is less spontaneous and typically involves quarantine. British citizenship has meant a lot more travel freedoms than I had previously, and between getting it and the pandemic I was enjoying these freedoms living in different countries. It is helpful to have a local bank account when you're living in another country on a medium-term basis. And you also don't have to pay foreign exchange fees with every purchase.

Great, thanks. So it is good to know I am not the only one who has fallen through the cracks!

So why the big deal by banks when you don't have a NINO? Worst case if someone has a NINO but doesn't know it, they don't claim what they are entitled to.

Is the NINO used as a form of ID number to track money launderers? If you only get one NINO for life then unlike passport numbers it doesn't change. Also it is more unique compared to DOB/Surname

durham_lad

Fortunately we kept our UK bank account open for the 29 years we were out of the UK, it definitely made things a lot easier.

While a NINO is not essential to opening a bank account the banks do use it to report to HMRC any interest paid to the recipient. Our son's bank account was a non-interest bearing checking account with HSBC so maybe having no interest to report helped in getting the account opened until his NINO was issued.